Taufik finishes fourth in Asian chess championships

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Taufik Halay paid dearly for his shaky start at the Under-16 Asian Chess Championships as the Indonesian wrapped up his 11-day campaign with a fourth place finish.

The tournament, which was held in Doha, Qatar, was played over nine rounds from Oct. 6 to Oct. 16.

Taufik, 15, collected six points from five wins, two draws and two losses.

His two losses came in the first and second rounds, at the hands of eventual champion Anton Filipov of Uzbekistan and runner-up Elshan Moradiabadi of Iran.

Filipov amassed eight points with Moradiabadi half a point behind. Seyed Hamed Mousavian, also from Iran, was third with 6.5 points.

The tournament winner earns an IM (International Master) title, while the second and third place finishers were awarded FM (FIDE Master) titles.

It was the second time in a row an Indonesian has fallen a step short of attaining a title at the Asian tourney. Susanto Megaranto, despite being the top seed, managed only fourth place in Vietnam last year.

Asian chess powerhouses China, Vietnam and the Philippines, did not send their prodigies to the tournament.

"Taufik should have performed better. It should have been a good opportunity for him to return home with at least third place," Hendry Jamal, the Indonesian Chess Association's deputy secretary-general, said.